RATING: 🌕🌕🌕🌕🌑
Published: September 05, 2017 (First published May 15, 2006)
Publisher: VIZ Media LLC
Format: Paperback
Pages: 2,400
Synopsis:
Light Yagami is an ace student with great prospects—and he’s bored out of his mind. But all that changes when he finds the Death Note, a notebook dropped by a rogue Shinigami death god. Any human whose name is written in the notebook dies, and now Light has vowed to use the power of the Death Note to rid the world of evil. But when criminals begin dropping dead, the authorities send the legendary detective L to track down the killer. With L hot on his heels, will Light lose sight of his noble goal…or his life?
Thoughts:
Death Note is a highly acclaimed manga and anime series. I’ve tried for quite some time to finish the series since I started it way back. But last year, in 2020, I finally managed to do it.
What I love about Death Note is the concept and the world. The idea of having a notebook, where people whose names are written on it will die, is brilliant. It was simple, yet it has a complex set of rules. Furthermore, I like the Shinigami twist although a small part of me wishes that the Shinigami realm has been explored more.
In addition to that, the pacing of the story is fast. It would keep you on the edge of your seat with every chapter. And as you dive deeper into the story, you will be caught up with the morally grey main character and his wits.
Speaking of characters, I really like L and Light’s duo. Their minds and synchronization of their thoughts are top-notch. I am not even sure who the villain in the story is and which character to root for.
However, the story took a 360° turn after the L-Era, and that’s where the story went down the hill for me. For starters, the character of Light felt like a different person from the beginning of the story. And although the author tries to compensate by saying that the years have passed and the Light is rusting, I am not convinced.
Moreover, the new set of characters is not as compelling as L. L and Light felt like a balance scale, but with the new set of characters, the scale seemed unbalanced. I didn’t like the dynamics between them and Light.
Besides, I still didn’t know how I felt about the ending. Compared to the many near-missed opportunity from before, this felt too easy. So that’s probably why the winner didn’t feel so brilliant in my opinion. It was like a slip of the tongue which is why someone was caught lying, instead of really knowing and giving facts to solidify the claim that they were lying, if that makes sense.
All-in-all, I like the series. I can also see myself revisiting the world, but it can be up to the L-Era and nothing else.
That’s all for this review. Let me know your thoughts about it if you have read or watched it already.
Until next time!
Maria❤
A Daughter of Parchment and Paper 